ENTREVISTA

Santana Part 2

We went to Aquatic Park, and they had nothing but conga players. Everybody’s, one flute player and about 15, 10, 15 conga players, and they’re all screaming, “D’jango!” You know, and d’jango, what, what the hell is d’jango? That’s really infectious. You know, and it was from Olatunji. This is before, I mean, ‘cause I heard before.

See, I used to go to picnics in San Jose even before there, and there’d be, like, three bands. There’d be, like, Latin b-, uh, uh, uh, you know, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Afro-Cuban music like Cal Jado, or Mungo Santamaria, or Lowen Malone. And there’d be, uh, mariachi music, and there’d be, like, a blues band. And so I would walk away, and I could hear all three of ‘em at the same time.

And I said, “That’s the sound that I want to get. I want to incorporate all of this music and make it all one.” You know, uh, so, being in San Francisco, um, later on I discovered Tito Puente, uh, Eddie Palmieri, uh, Joe Cuba, and, of course, Ray Bareto, you know, because he had, uh, “Watusi” was a hit when I came here, and so does, uh, “Watermelon Man,” with Mungo Santamaria.

And they were just as number one as Elvis Presley. [laughing] You know? So I knew that, uh, integrating this music with the blues, uh, was natural for me. You know, uh, listening to Gabor Szabo later on in, you know, so I learned, um, that’s a key word, to integrate, and ignite, you know.